My wife and I left Philadelphia Pa airport on August 27, 2011 at 9:50PM. we were not optimistic about the departure because Hurricane Irene had arrived at same time. We did take off and landed in London 6 hours and 36 minutes later. We had arranged transfers from London to Southampton through Princess Cruises. We arrived at the ship two hours later and were on board by 1:30 PM. Very smooth embarkation. The Crown left late due to a medical emergency. After sailing for 6 hours, there was another medical emergency that had the Captain, Nick Nash return to Portsmouth to evacuate the ill passenger. These delays meant we missed the tour in Bergen, Norway as we arrived at 5 PM rather than 8 AM. The trip isn't a voyage in the normally calm Caribbean, it's the North Atlantic and the Arctic Circle, therefore except some gnarly weather. We had two especially rough days a sea. The Crown Captain, Nick Nash, kept us informed about the weather in a witty manner. The Crown is a Hugh ship, but so is the Atlantic Ocean. Bring Dramamine or Ginger tablets. If this doesn't help the ship's Doctor can help. It seems the majority of passengers handled the weather well. The entertainers seemed to be impacted the most, a opera singer and a string quartet group.

We have sailed on numerous voyages, and the reason we booked this trip was the port stops. My wife yearned to visit Iceland. On the ship, the food isn't anything special except for Sabatini's, which we enjoy. It costs $20.00 extra for each person. Well worth it. The entertainment is the usual, nothing to write home about. The Cabin Steward was excellent, as usual. Never had a bad Steward. The ship is Hugh, but still is crowded. We had 3500 passengers, and 1200 crew. The problem on a cruise that is mostly cloudy and chilly is no one is on the sun deck, therefore, the remaining decks are crowded. I'm no fan of these big ships. Finding private space to read is difficult. When not in use for a special event, Skywalkers on deck 19 is a quite hideaway. There were some interesting lectures on board, especially a series given by John Maxtone-Graham, who spoke about the cruise industry and the past. Every event was crowded. The majority of passengers were English, and the ship had special lunches, which consisted of English favorites, i.e., fish and chips.

Arriving in America, we docked at the Red Hook pier in Brooklyn, NY. We arrived at 7:15 AM. Debarking 3500 passengers is a challenge. To compound the difficulty, some idiots attempted to debark before there time. Princess has a system where your assigned a time and place to meet on day of departure. You are issued a colored tag that coincides with your time of departure. you produce the colored tag and your boarding pass, when leaving. Somehow the buffoons got pass security and were apprehended in the terminal by customs. This resulted in a 45 minute delay. We were some of first off, and met our car service at 9:30 AM and were home 3 hours later. A voyage of 17 days isn't for me. My wife would enjoy a world cruise. In the future, I'm for a voyage of 10 days or less, on a vessel with no more than 2000 passengers. We visited many ports, Bergen, Norway, Shetland Islands, Farow Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Nothing special, saw alot of sheep, some icebergs, and some killer whales. Weather was mostly cloudy, temperatures around 50 degrees, and some rough seas. One port, Nanortalik, Greenland was cancelled due to high winds,and icebergs. Halifax was sunny and is a pleasant stop. Remember, if you are a sun worshipper, forget this voyage. In the Faroe Islands, the locals are advised to take Vitamin D supplement due to lack of rays.